Leaving León means leaving behind the flat (and some of the heat of the meseta. I’ve really missed the tree cover although I haven’t missed the hills as much.
I head into Ponferrada and make a wrong turn trying to find my room for the night. I end up on the outside of the walled city picking my way up a typical cobblestone street. I find these challenging to navigate in well fitting, firmly tied hiking shoes. I can’t imagine what these must have been like with more ‘primative’ shoes.
My days are a bit shorter for this portion of the trip, so I find that I’m able to stop a bit more frequently. A café con leche and the omnipresent and delicious zumo de naraja makes for an excellent mid-morning pause. I didn’t get the chance to do this as often in the first half because I was pushing longer stages. Likely not practical to have done differently in the high desert, but certainly a possibility prior to Logroño.
One of my stages takes me through a series of wineries and vineyards. Not an open tasting room to be found (at least on the Camino directly. I may have seen one about 500m off of the path, but wasn’t willing to ‘risk’ it being closed.) Personally, I think they should set up ‘lemonade’ style stands. Although I’m guessing not that many pilgrims are walking off with a case. So… Lack of tasting opportunities explained I guess.
This section reminds me very much of California. It also reminds me not to take our rental cars for granted going up and down Spring and Howell Mountains! This has largely been a beer trip so far. The Galician vineyards are prompting me to seek out a bit more wine.
Tonight I’m staying in a converted monastery. The building is beautiful, with amazing frescos thru out. The rooms, while comfortable, are a bit odd. Painted a sickly shade of green, my room is twice as high as it is wide. But, the shower is hot and I can’t hear anyone snore.
I head out to dinner and order a rabbit dish that is popular in the Canary Islands. While I wait, I’m trying to figure out what has happened (and when) to a building across the square from me. I’m curious if they are just waiting for the rest of the building to fall or if it will eventually be repaired.
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